News is everywhere online, but it’s not always easy to find the most recent and relevant stories from the most reputable sources. Only the very best news apps for Android deliver the news to your device like this—with layouts, personalization, and functionality you just can’t get anywhere else.

  • Daily briefings for quick news.

  • Headlines as they break with ability to sort by category.

  • Newsstand feature to find your favorite sources.

  • Personalized recommendations might not be accurate.

  • Relatively unintuitive user interface.

Magazine-Style News Stories Based on Your Interests: Flipboard

Flipboard is best known and loved for its sleek and classic magazine-style layout with gesture-based page flipping. It combines the power of professional editors with smart algorithms to customize your news experience. Just pick a few topics of interest to get yourself started and Flipboard will do the rest.

  • Clean, aesthetically pleasing layout.

  • The latest news from top sources like the NY Times, CNN, etc.

  • Ability to create and customize Smart Magazines.

  • An increasing number of ads seem to be appearing.

  • Uses a lot of data to run (especially video).

The Best Way To Discover News Stories: SmartNews

For news without all the extra fluff, you can count on the SmartNews app. It claims sift through millions of stories each and every day, picking out only top most trending news stories from top news publishers. Scan headlines easily for both local and global news to find what you’re interested in fast and customize your news channels to your liking.

  • Very easy to use and excellent for discovering news stories.

  • Smart Mode feature for optimized readability.

  • Ability to gather trending news and read the news offline.

  • Ad-free reading.

  • Optimized more for news discovery rather than personalization.

  • No feature for filtering news sources.

Get In-Depth Reporting From Trusted Publishers: Microsoft News

If you truly want variety in your news, the Microsoft News app can give it to you. You’ll get access to stories from hundreds of top publishers from around the world with a sleek layout that makes it easier than every to browse stories. Choose the topics that interest you the most and enjoy the most important stories from trusted sources.

  • News editions in over 20 countries featuring stories from 3,000 top brands.

  • Clutter-free interface with dark mode for reading at night.

  • Ability to sync all your settings across the app and the web.

  • No feature to tell the app about stories you do/don’t like.

  • Video section experiences performance issues.

Get Worldwide News from One of the Most Trusted Sources: BBC News

BBC News is a top news network, bringing you the latest stories from all over the world. You can use the app to create your very own personalized news feed and easily add new topics of interest from any story by tapping the convenient plus sign (+) icon. Organize by the time of their reporting or topic and download them to read offline later if you choose.

  • Ability to find content fast and easily add topics to a personalized news page.

  • Access to BBC News’ full range of video and audio content (including radio).

  • Font control settings to enlarge text for easier reading.

  • Surprisingly little content in some sections.

  • More videos and feature stories instead of breaking news.

A Broader Take on the News: Reuters

Reuters is another top news publisher that delivers current news content from its network of 2,000 reporters around the world in a variety of topics from science and technology, to politics and sports. You can use the app to create a personalized news feed by picking broad topics or more specific topics of interest. It also offers lots of extra features like story saving, offline access, night mode and more.

  • Professional news reporting from a broader point of view.

  • Includes a Market Watchlist and other business-related features.

  • Editorial Highlights make it easy to catch up on relevant news quickly.

  • Confusing to use with horizontal and vertical scrolling.

  • Lots of bugs that appear even with recent updates to the app.

Real-Time Reporting on Local and Global Events: AP News

Another top, trusted news source you can count on is The Associated Press for its delivery of breaking news. It’s one of the best apps to have if you’re particularly interested in real-time coverage of events as they’re unfolding. Customize your news preferences by adding topics of interest so you can stay on top of the most relevant local and global news.

  • Impressive search engine to find topics of interest.

  • Emphasis on current news and breaking stories.

  • Option for image-free reading to save on mobile data.

  • Full of ads.

  • Can be slow and laggy at times.

A Powerful News Aggregator for Personalized Reading: Inoreader

Inoreader is a news aggregator helps you build your own news experience based on what you want to see. Select the topics you’re interested in and the top publishers you want to get content from to design your personalized news feed. You can even organize feeds into folders and integrate the app with news subscriptions you might have.

  • Ability to curate content from chosen publishers with good range of customizable options.

  • Clean, intuitive and easy-to-read layout.

  • Ability to integrate and save articles to third-party apps (Dropbox, Evernote, etc.).

  • Drains battery fast despite such a minimal layout.

  • Limited number of sources to add to your feed.

Distraction-Free News Consumption from a Large Variety of Sources: News360

News360 is another news aggregator that places a big emphasis on layout and design, featuring a beautiful interface built for you to scan headlines quickly and enjoy rich content. Like many others apps on this list, News360 also works to personalize your news experience by allowing you to select your favourite topics and using AI-powered algorithms to deliver news recommendations to you based on how you use the app.

  • Very user-friendly interface with option to like/dislike stories for better personalization.

  • Unlimited content from over 100,000 sources.

  • Ability to save stories to read offline.

  • News from sources that aren’t necessarily high-quality.

  • Increasing number of flashy ads with regular use.

A Complete RSS Aggregator Solution: Feedly

Feedly has long been the RSS aggregator of choice for many news junkies and blog readers. If you’d rather subscribe to sites and see their latest updates as they come in rather than rely on a smart app that tries to learn what you like and then shows a selection of content to you, Feedly is a good choice. You can organize your feeds how you like, choose suggested top sources to subscribe to plus add your own via RSS.

  • Ability to add news sources plus other content like blogs, YouTube channels, etc.

  • Reliance on RSS rather than algorithms so you never miss anything.

  • AI-powered discovery tab to find more feeds to subscribe to.

  • Relatively unintuitive interface despite its clean design.

  • Limited to up to three feeds and 100 sources with free version.

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